Shortly before 9 o’clock this (Sunday) morning, the doorbell rang.  It was Ute, the farmer (and part-time postal worker, since farming doesn’t really pay these days) from up the street.  She’s the one whose husband’s Jack Russell terriers are the mother and grandmother of Rudolph Rupert Rocket Dog (whose new alias is Winston, because he always has some rolled rawhide, dried rolled cow stomach, or carrot hanging out the side of his mouth like a cigar).

“Here,” she said, smiling, and handed me a clear plastic bag filled with more than 5 pounds of offcuts for the little Rudi.

They’d slaughtered another bull a week or two ago and butchered it yesterday (so now we are barely able to close our chest freezer because the neighbor went and bought another 10 or so kilos of meat, but didn’t have any freezer space left at her place to keep any of it).

Yeah.  Life in the countryside!  But that was super kind of her, because even though they’d normally just throw it away, the dog is definitely excited about it and will eat it and therefore those offcuts still have value.  But she didn’t want any money for them.

The little Rudi is definitely very excited about this development.

Even though it’s a lot of connective tissue with some meat attached.

And that’s a lot more than anyone has ever brought my cats!!!